SAN DIEGO. A new technology pilot program -- called the 5G Living Lab -- is now operational at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar in San Diego, part of a $4 million initiative funded through the Office of Naval Research and Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Pacific and run by nonprofit concern US Ignite.

BOCA RATON, Fla. AE Industrial Partners, LP (AEI), a private equity firm specializing in Aerospace, Defense, Government Services, Power Generation, and Specialty Industrial markets, announced that it has acquired UAV Factory, company specializing in the tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) technology markets.

CARLSBAD, Calif. Viasat Inc., a global communications company, announced it increased production run rates to over 200 Non-Developmental Item (NDI) Link 16 Next-Generation Tactical Data Links radios per month to meet current interest and pending orders from U.S. and international defense customers.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. Abaco Systems, Inc. announced the GVC1001, a graphics, vision, artificial intelligence (AI) and image processing computer. Using NVIDIA's latest AI and Deep Learning enabled NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier System on Module, Abaco aims to meet the demands and challenges of low size, weight, and power (SWaP) graphics, vision, AI, and sensor computing applications within ground vehicles, aviation, naval, and industrial platforms.

HERNDON, Va. Satellite company HawkEye 360 announced that its second cluster of satellites has successfully been deployed into orbit and will soon be detecting, characterizing, and geolocating different kinds of radio frequency (RF) signals; the satellites were launched aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 on January 24. 

ARLINGTON, Va. FLIR Systems has won an additional $30.1 million contract from the U.S. Army for sustainment efforts connected to the service’s Man Transportable Robotic System Increment II (MTRS Inc. II) and Common Robotic System-Heavy (CRS-H) unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) programs.

JAPAN. Japan’s Coast Guard completed flight testing of Raytheon Intelligence & Space (RI&S), a Raytheon Technologies business, maritime surveillance technologies onboard a General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) SeaGuardian Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA). RI&S provided its SeaVue Expanded Mission Capability (XMC) radar and AN/DAS-4 Multi-spectral Targeting System for the tests.

WICHITA, Kansas. Students at Wichita State University (WSU) have become the first in Kansas with the opportunity to learn how to solve real-world national defense challenges as part of the Hacking for Defense (H4D) program, as WSU joins the FirePoint Innovations Center and WSU’s Masters of Innovation Design program.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company, and Boeing released details of its advanced helicopter for the U.S. Army's Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft competition, known as FLRAA. The aircraft, named DEFIANT X, will aim to revolutionize the way the Army meets threats in 2035 and beyond.

PHOENIX, Ariz. Honeywell, with funding from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is creating the next generation of inertial sensor technology that will one day be used in both commercial and defense navigation applications.

HUNSTVILLE, Ala. Dynetics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Leidos, completed a third test flight series in which the Gremlins Air Vehicle (GAV) and Gremlins Recovery System flew three more times. The system has totaled seven flight hours during the month of November. The test took place at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

GERMANY. Sensor specialist HENSOLDT has acquired the Austrian company SAIL LABS, a provider of AI-based Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) solutions. HENSOLDT is aiming to complete its sensor portfolio with intelligent solutions for the digital space.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. Abaco Systems, Inc. announced the MAGIC1A, a high-performance embedded computer (HPEC) with a modular, scalable approach to system design and architecture; based on 3U-VPX technology.

RESTON, Va. Rolls-Royce has won $1 million of research funding from the U.S. Government for digital foreign object debris (FOD) detection technology. The year-long research contract from the U.S. Navy will help to further develop and validate Rolls-Royce’s FanSense debris monitoring system, which is currently supporting the Pegasus engine.

U.S. NAVY NAVAL SURFACE WARFARE CENTER CRANE DIVISION, CRANE, Ind. The U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, has partnered with VOS Systems to promulgate U.S. Navy use of VOS Systems' product AlertTrace, a COVID-19 contact-tracing solution with user-friendly software, encrypted and secured anonymous data for maximum privacy protection, and no tracking or GPS capabilities.